Kirstine Callø

Kirstine Callø is an Associate Professor at the Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, where she also serves as Head of Section for Pathobiological Sciences. She was accepted into the UCPH Professor Promotion program in August 2023. Her academic journey at the University of Copenhagen spans from her Bachelor's degree in Biology (1999) through her Dr. Med. Vet (2019).

Her research focuses on electrophysiology and ion channels, particularly how the distribution of Purkinje fibers affects ECG in various large species. She investigates how ionic currents in the heart affect action potentials and excitation-contraction coupling in healthy and diseased hearts. Her work spans cardiac physiology, channelopathies, and pharmacological treatments for cardiac diseases.

Recent publications reveal a strong emphasis on comparative cardiac physiology across species, with studies on hippopotamuses, kangaroos, lions, and equines, alongside human cardiac conditions. Her research demonstrates how evolutionary adaptations in different species can inform our understanding of human cardiac electrophysiology and arrhythmia mechanisms.

• The Gordon K Moe Young Investigator Award at the Upstate New York Cardiac Electrophysiology Society meeting (2011)

Dr. Callø has extensive experience supervising Bachelor's, Master's, and PhD projects in cardiovascular research. Her laboratory utilizes advanced techniques including whole-cell patch-clamp, current-clamp, isolation of cardiomyocytes, and confocal microscopy. She maintains active collaborations with international research institutions, including the Masonic Medical Research Laboratory in Utica, New York.

Her current research directions include personalized medicine for cardiac arrhythmias, development of assays based on stem cell derived cardiomyocytes, and investigation of the distribution of the cardiac conduction system across mammalian species.